Obama ASEAN Comments Signal Return to Regime Change Policy in Syria

President Obama in the Oval Office During an Intelligence Briefing (by White House)

Next Cold War Roundup 2/17/16

Obama’s Harsh Remarks for Russia

_ At the ASEAN conference, Obama received questions about recent advances by the Syria-Russia coalition. His position sounds very much like a return to the aggressive, neocon + interventionist blend that had been toned down in the past month or so. The full transcript is linked below and should be read because the message, like the American policy in Syria, is still mixed and muddled.

Now, what I said was, is that Russia would involve itself in a quagmire. Absolutely, it will. If there’s anybody who thinks that somehow the fighting ends because Russia and the regime has made some initial advances — about three-quarters of the country is still under control of folks other than Assad. That’s not stopping anytime soon. [Transcript]

_ Assessment of Obama’s comments at ASEAN at SST is that Obama himself is driving the interventionism that you hear in the words of Sec Def Ash Carter and NATO’s Breedlove and that he’s made it clear “Russian assertiveness as something not to be endured.”

_ RT sums up Obama’s comments at ASEAN below and a member of the anti-war ANSWER coalition concludes that he has reverted to “the old policy of championing regime change in Damascus”.

The US president has claimed that Russian involvement in Syria is a sign of weakness and has pressed for regime change in Damascus, brushing aside ongoing peace talks and ignoring steady gains by the Syrian army and Kurdish forces against terrorists.

Obama was doubling down on a claim made in December last year that Russia was getting bogged down in an “inconclusive and paralyzing civil conflict” in Syria. He dismissed the recent victories of the Syrian Arab Army and the Kurdish fighters north of Aleppo as “initial advances,” and said that three quarters of Syria was still controlled by forces other than the government in Damascus.

US-Backed Forces in Syria Working at Cross Purposes

PT: It really cannot be said enough how catastrophic the policy disconnect between (1) CIA (2) CENTCOM & (3) Obama Admin has been on #Syria.

Saudi and Russian Oil Ministers Meeting

_ Someone leaked information about a “back channel talks” in Qatar, planned in secret, between oil officials of Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela in an attempt to coordinate on oil production. Later, on Wednesday, Iran’s OPEC envoy “snubbed a proposal agreed to by four influential oil producers to cap their crude output if others do the same, with a senior Oil Ministry official saying Tehran has no intention of freezing oil output levels.”

Turkey-Israel Reconciliation

_ Turkey and Israel are close to negotiating terms for reconciliation. The fact that both want to play a role in becoming significant suppliers of natural gas (via a pipeline from the Med, through Turkey and Greece to the rest of Europe) is helping the reconciliation along, especially since the TurkStream deal between Russia and Turkey fell through.